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- pronunciation:
- aek
sih
den
t
 l
- parts of speech:
- adjective, noun
- features:
- Word Combinations (adjective), Word Builder, Word Explorer, Word Parts
| part of speech: |
adjective |
| definition 1: |
happening by chance; unexpected; unintended.
The discovery of a cure for the disease was purely accidental.We take precautions to avoid accidental injury.- synonyms:
- casual, chance, contingent, inadvertent, unintended, unintentional, unthinking, unwitting
- antonyms:
- deliberate, intended, intentional, planned, willful
- similar words:
- coincidental, fluky, fortuitous, incidental, random, stray, unexpected
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| definition 2: |
not part of the basic nature of a thing; secondary; incidental.
Is a sense of humor an accidental feature of human nature or an essential one?- synonyms:
- accessory, adventitious, extrinsic, incidental, nonessential, secondary
- antonyms:
- essential
- similar words:
- circumstantial, collateral, extra, extraneous, inessential, subordinate, subsidiary, superfluous, unessential, unnecessary
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| related words: |
careless, nonessential, offhand |
adverb + (adj.)accidental
entirely, hardly, merely, purely, seemingly
(adj.)accidental
+ noun
addition,
arrival,
blaze,
bombing,
breakage,
brush,
bump,
butt,
by-product,
byproduct,
carbon,
catch,
celebrity,
chemical,
circumstance,
clash,
collision,
contact,
contamination,
crash,
damage,
death,
destruction,
detonation,
discharge,
discovery,
dismemberment,
drowning,
elbow,
encounter,
entrepreneur,
existence,
explosion,
exposure,
fall,
fire,
firing,
gunshot,
happening,
harm,
herbicide,
homicide,
hookup,
hospitalization,
hostility,
hypothermia,
incursion,
infection,
ingestion,
inhalation,
injury,
inoculation,
introduction,
killing,
launch,
launching,
leak,
malfunction,
missile,
murder,
mutation,
nature,
needle,
overdose,
pigment,
pill,
poisoning,
potency,
pregnancy,
release,
resemblance,
shooting,
sighting,
slip,
spill,
spore,
stick,
suffocation,
touch,
tourist,
trauma,
twist,
virgin,
witness,
wound
[See all][See only the most frequent]
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| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition 1: |
a nonessential, unexpected, or supplementary factor, attribute, thing, or circumstance.
Positive effects of a treatment are sometimes caused by accidentals rather than the treatment itself.- synonyms:
- nonessential
- similar words:
- external, incidental, supplement
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| definition 2: |
in music, a symbol that indicates that a note should be played or sung one or two semitones higher or lower than is otherwise indicated. In most cases, the pitch is to be raised or lowered by one half step, as from F natural to F sharp.
This measure has four accidentals: two flats and two naturals. |
| definition 3: |
in music, a note that is raised or lowered by one or two semitones due to the presence of an accidental.
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| contrasting words: |
essential |
| derivation: |
accidentally (adv.) |
Word Builder: accidental +
- accidentally:
by accident.
The word accidental
contains the following parts:
ac-
Latin
prefix
that means to, toward
  More about this word part:
The prefix ac-
occurs in Latin loanwords. It is an assimilated form of ad- used before Latin roots beginning with hard or soft "c" or "q." See ad-.
Example words:
accede, accelerate, accent, accept, acceptable, acceptance, acceptation, access, accessible, accession, accident, accidental, acclaim, acclamation, accommodate, accompany, accomplice, accomplish, accord, account, accredit, accrual, accumulate, accuracy, accurate, accuse, accustom, acquaint, acquire, acquit
cad, cas, cid2
Latin
root
that means to fall
Example words:
accident, accidental, cadaver, cadaverous, cadence, cascade, casualty, coincide, coincidence, decadent, deciduous, incidence, incident, incidental, occasion, occidental, recidivism
-al2, -ial, -ual
Latin
adjective-forming suffix
that means pertaining to
More about this word part:
The suffix -al2, -ial
attaches primarily to nouns ( national
, environmental
) but sometimes to Latin or Greek roots ( final
, capital
, comical
) to form adjectives. See also -ar1.
Example words:
abnormal, accidental, additional, aerial, agricultural, ancestral, annual, arboreal, artificial, astral, bacterial, biblical, biographical, brutal, capital, central, ceremonial, chemical, classical, clinical, coastal, colonial, comical, commercial, confidential, constitutional, continental, continual, controversial, conventional, criminal, critical, crucial, cultural, cylindrical, dental, detrimental, developmental, economical, editorial, educational, electrical, emotional, environmental, essential, equal, exceptional, experimental, facial, factual, federal, final, financial, floral, fluvial, formal, functional, fundamental, general, global, grammatical, guttural, habitual, historical, hysterical, illogical, immoral, impersonal, impractical, individual, industrial, ineffectual, influential, internal, legal, local, logical, lyrical, magical, maniacal, mathematical, memorial, mental, moral, mortal, musical, mythical, national, natural, nautical, neutral, normal, official, parental, pastoral, personal, philosophical, plural, pluralism, pluralistic, political, potential, quizzical, racial, rational, regional, irrational, intellectual, rhythmical, sacrificial, seasonal, spinal, spiritual, technological, territorial, theatrical, thermal, tidal, traditional, tribal, typical, universal, unnatural, veridical, verbal, virtual, vocal, visual
-ant, -ent
Latin
adjective- and noun-forming suffix
that means (in adjectives) doing the action denoted by the verb root; (in nouns) one who or that which does the action denoted by the verb root.
More about this word part:
The suffix -ant
, -ent
forms adjectives and, to a much lesser extent, nouns from Latin verb stems such as fid in confident
and stud in student
. This suffix is the equivalent in Latin of the "-ing" inflection in English. Many adjectives ending in -ant
, -ent
have a corresponding noun ending in -ance, -ence, -ancy, -ency.
Example words:
aberrant, accident, accidental, adherent, adjacent, affluent, agent, alterant, ambient, antecedent, applicant, arrogant, benevolent, coherent, combatant, complacent, confidant, confident, consequent, consultant, continent, conversant, current, defoliant, dependent, different, disinfectant, dissonant, dominant, efficient, eloquent, equilibrant, exorbitant, extravagant, fluent, hydrant, ignorant, important, inadvertent, incessant, incognizant, inconsonant, indignant, informant, itinerant, malevolent, miscreant, parent, participant, patient, precedent, predominant, president, prudent, pungent, recreant, reluctant, repugnant, resident, resonant, servant, significant, student, tenant, transcendent, vacant, vagrant, variant, verdant
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